Instead, Google has introduced the Simplified View mode on Chrome some time back, which works in pretty much the same way. So if you’re wondering how to get reader mode in Chrome on Android, here’s a guide to help you navigate better.
What Is Simplified View?
Simplified view is an accessibility feature on Chrome for Android that makes websites more mobile-friendly for a better reading experience. To do this, it strips down all the distracting and non-essential elements on a webpage and turns down the color scheme to monochrome, improving the readability of the text on the webpage. Moreover, it also removes ads on a web page to facilitate an ad-free reading experience, which makes the reading mode so appealing to many users. Much like the Chrome reader mode, the simplified view mode also gives you the ability to customize the appearance of web pages in reader view. This allows you to change various elements of the webpage, such as background color, font size, and font style, to your preference.
What Happened to Reader Mode Chrome Flag? And Does It Work Anymore?
Like we just mentioned, the flag method wherein you’d use the #reader-mode-heuristics flag to enable reader mode in Chrome for Android doesn’t give a reader mode option anymore. So now, if you enable this flag, instead of giving you a pop-up to enable mobile-friendly view (or reader mode), it turns on the simplified view option in the settings instead.
How to Enable Reader Mode (Simplified View) in Chrome for Android
Simplified view is available as part of accessibility settings in Chrome for Android, and you can enable it in a few simple steps. But before you proceed, make sure to update Chrome to the latest version from the Play Store. Once done, use these steps to turn on simplified mode in Chrome:
How to View a Page in Reader Mode (Simplified View) in Chrome for Android
Once you’ve enabled simplified view on Chrome, every time you open a webpage with an article, you’ll see a banner/prompt at the bottom of the webpage with the text Show simplified view.
Simply tap on this banner, and it’ll open the article in simplified view. You can continue to read the article in this view or exit it by hitting the x icon in the top-left corner of the webpage. Furthermore, if you wish to personalize your reading experience, you can change the appearance of simplified view using the following steps. At the time of writing this, you can change the background color, font size, and font style of the elements on the page. So if you want to change, say, the background color, tap on any of the three color options aligned horizontally to use it. Similarly, to change the font style, click on the dropdown button next to the font name and select a font option from the list, and to adjust the font size, drag the slider to get your desired font size for the webpage. Moreover, if you don’t like the banner style alert for a simplified view, you can change it to use the Messages UI on Android. Follow the steps below to do this: Now, when you visit a website that supports reader view, you’ll see a View simplified page. pop-up on the top. Tap on the View button here to turn on the simplified view.
Related Read: What is Android System WebView and Should You Disable it?
How to Force Disable Simplified View on Chrome for Android
Disabling the Simplified view is pretty straightforward: Go to Settings > Accessibility and uncheck the checkbox next to the Simplified view for web pages. However, as it turns out, some Chrome users have reported that even after they disable the simplified view using this method, the pop-up for the simplified view continues to show up on every webpage. Fortunately, there’s a way around this situation, and it involves using a Chrome flag. So if you’re facing the same issue, here’s how you can disable the annoying simplified view pop-up alerts: Now, when you visit a website and open a blog, you shouldn’t see the simplified view banner in your browser.
Read Articles on Chrome Without Any Distractions
Using simplified view, you should now be able to read articles or blogs on Chrome in reader view without any distractions. Although simplified view works in pretty much the same way as the reader mode, you do get to customize some of the elements on the webpage using it, which is a nice touch that helps you personalize your reading experience.
